A deadly and fast-moving attack shook northern Israel on Friday, leaving two people dead and a community in shock.
Police say the violence unfolded across several locations in a short span of time. It began in the eastern city of Beit Shean, where a man drove his car into pedestrians. A 68-year-old man, Shimshon Mordechai, was killed, and a 16-year-old boy was seriously injured. The attacker didn’t stop there. He kept driving west and, near Ein Harod, got out of the vehicle and stabbed an 18-year-old woman, Aviv Maor, who later died from her injuries.
The rampage ended near the city of Afula, where a civilian confronted the suspect and shot him. Police said the attacker was wounded and neutralized at the scene.
Israeli authorities identified the suspect as a 37-year-old man from Qabatiya, a village in the northern part of the occupied West Bank. According to Israel’s defense minister, the man had entered Israel illegally several days earlier. Local media reported that he had been working without a permit and carried out the attack using his employer’s vehicle.
After the incident, the Israeli military said it was preparing an operation in the Qabatiya area. Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered troops to respond quickly and with force. The army also confirmed that the suspect had crossed into Israel days before the attack.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered his condolences to the victims’ families and praised the civilian who stopped the attacker, calling the act heroic.
The attack came just one day after a separate incident in the West Bank sparked outrage. A video surfaced showing an Israeli army reservist driving a quad bike into a Palestinian man who was praying by the roadside. The Palestinian was reportedly not injured. The military said the reservist had been dismissed from service and had his weapon taken away.
Tensions in the West Bank have been rising for years, with the United Nations reporting a sharp increase in attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians. Since the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023 which killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage violence across the region has intensified.
Since then, more than 70,600 people have been killed in Israeli military operations in Gaza, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, highlighting the ongoing and devastating toll of the conflict on all sides.
